The Age of Innocence

The Age of Innocence is a 1920 novel by Edith Wharton which won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. The novel takes place among New York City's upper class during the 1870s, before the advent of electric lights, telephones or motor vehicles; when there was a small cluster of aristocratic "old revolutionary stock" families that ruled New York's social life; when "being things" was better than "doing things" - one's occupation or abilities were secondary to heredity and family connections, when reputation and outward appearances came at the exclusion of everything and everyone else, and when 5th Avenue was so deserted by nightfall that it was possible to follow the comings and goings of society by watching who went to which household. First published in four parts during July to October 1920 in the Pictorial Review and then in the same year by D. Appleton and Company in New York and in London.— Excerpted fromThe Age of Innocenceon Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1923.

The author died in 1937, so this work is also in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 80 years or less. This work may also be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.